Water Scarcity In The Colorado River

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The Colorado River is one of the main rivers of the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico. There are a number concerning human factors caused by human activities, such as over damming and population and environmental factors caused from natural phenomena, including climate change, draught and ecological disturbances. These factors are causing water scarcity issues for the regions that are supported by the Colorado River. Stake Holders are attempting to prevent water scarcity with projects such as Minute 323.
Water scarcity refers to the lack of sufficient fresh water available to meet water demands. Water scarcity is occurring in American regions due to a number of human factors, which results in negative environmental impacts. The human factor which …show more content…
This action began on the Colorado River in the early 1920’s, to direct the water to larger cities such as Los Angles, San Diego, and Phoenix, and has caused environmental problems ever since. For example droughts in the Southwest of America has worsened due to limited access to water from the Colorado River. Furthermore, at the Grand Canyon lake edge, you can see the lines on the rock walls, showing the water level far lower than it once was, some current levels are 40 metres lower than it was in 2000. The decline of organisms such as shellfish, shrimp and waterfowl has increased as the amount of fresh water decreases, due to less fresh water in the river which is caused by damming. Enhanced climate change caused by humans has also had detrimental environmental effects on the river, according to Geo-scientists. Climate change has caused less precipitation, and it is predicted that the river flow will decrease by 5-20% in the next 40 years, especially over the Rocky Mountains region. This also means that droughts will last longer and higher overall air temperatures will result in loss of water evaporation. Also, human introduction of introduced species such as salt cedar and cattail has
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